Rockpile w⧸ Robert Plant — Little Sister

JUL 01 1979 · 12:00

Rockpile w⧸ Robert Plant — Little Sister (1979) Director: Keith McMillan Era: Late-70s British Pub Rock / New Wave Transition (1979) - Live concert film footage from the Concerts for the People of Kampuchea, Hammersmith Odeon, London, December 29, 1979; represents the cusp moment between pub rock's peak and new wave's commercial ascent. Exceptional archival value on multiple axes: (1) documents a rare and unplanned Robert Plant guest appearance with Rockpile; (2) is a verified MTV Day One artifact (#42 of 166 videos aired); (3) preserves live concert footage from the historically significant Concerts for the People of Kampuchea; (4) captures Rockpile at their peak — months before their 1981 dissolution — performing a rockabilly cover that encapsulates their entire aesthetic philosophy. Tier 1 priority for preservation. Context: Filmed on December 29, 1979, at the Concerts for the People of Kampuchea at Hammersmith Odeon, London — a landmark charity event organized by Paul McCartney and UN Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim to raise money for war-torn Cambodia. Rockpile's set that evening featured an unannounced guest appearance by Robert Plant, then the vocalist of Led Zeppelin, whose label Swan Song had signed Dave Edmunds. The song itself is a cover of the 1961 Elvis Presley classic, performed in classic rockabilly style — emblematic of Rockpile's reverence for 1950s rock and roll roots. This clip gained wider cultural circulation when it became the 42nd video ever aired on MTV on August 1, 1981, making it part of the canonical archive of MTV's inaugural broadcast day. Director notes: This performance clip is sourced from the Concerts for the People of Kampuchea, filmed at Hammersmith Odeon, London, on December 29, 1979. The concert series was filmed by EMI Films and the resulting film 'Concert for Kampuchea' was directed by Keith McMillan. No director is individually credited for the specific Rockpile / Robert Plant 'Little Sister' segment in any available source; the 'Through the Shattered Lens' blog, which catalogued this as the 42nd video played on MTV on August 1, 1981, explicitly lists the director as unknown ('????'). McMillan is attributed here at 'likely' confidence as the supervising director of the broader filmed concert from which this clip is extracted. The clip was subsequently circulated as a standalone music video for early MTV broadcast in 1981.